Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

11 reviews

hwaldooo's review

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

the premise of this book ticked a ton of boxes for me, but i could NOT get into it at all. no investment in the plot, no affection for the characters, some interest in the central ideas (time/history, collective action) but underwhelmed with how they were handled. bummer!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Child abuse, and Murder

Minor: Incest, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

hamstringy's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

This is really another book for the pile of books that should have been something I enjoyed. I was left soooo disappointed and really annoyed at the end of the book. Parts of the book are incredibly cool to me, like the science of time travel, the concept of political struggle over a timeline instead of just over linear moments.

I also did really enjoy one scene where the MC gouges a man's eyeballs out and calls his eye sockets "another hole to penetrate";

I think that was both really baller and genuinely an example of an idea I wish Newitz had committed to more.

Let's sort my criticisms into petty and conceptual:

Petty Nitpicks: 

• Women in the 1890s wearing "lacy bras"
• A character predicting she'd graduate from UCLA in the 90s with $50k in debt (which there is no way to do in 4-5 years)
• People using modern slang while time traveling while having people of the times understand them (okay sure, we're ignoring historical linguistics, that is a valid choice), but they catch enemy time travelers because they use modern slang??

Actual Beef: 

• I find this book to be quite bioessentialist--a lot of it is focused on an expanded Comstock act and the legality of abortion, which does most obviously affect people with uteruses (often women). This is fine, but the narrative keeps harping on the fact that the Sisters of Harriet are for women and nonbinary people. What about trans men? Are they not central to the underlying themes of autonomy, particularly with people obsessed with "female" fertility? What does the Comstock act do to affect nonbinary people and trans women? Why are all but one of the main characters women if there is gender diversity? It takes a lot of wind out of this book's sails, and, honestly, part of me wished the author just chose to make the Sisters of Harriet focused on abortion for women, because that's all they seemed equipped to handle. 
• I find the constant pacifism of the Sisters to be incredibly annoying. I think this is in large part because I'm not a staunch interpersonal pacifist myself, but it also doesn't really make sense in-book: what is one man versus the global health of all women? No one ever seems to express a very "sanctity of all life" sentiment, so it feels really disappointing a choice to shy away from the conflict between violence and autonomy. 
• I wish the Comstockers weren't made out to be these cartoonish villains. People who are anti-abortion can seem that way, but I think it's a generally more interesting and more compelling struggle if the Comstockers have complexity and nuance--this is hinted at in the very first scene, where a Comstocker is anti-college because of its establishment roots, but their politics quickly devolve into calling all women sluts and wanting them dead. 
• A riot grrl band never exists because the main character and her friend succeed and legalize abortion in the 21st century, but the riot grrl movement (and in particular this Latina-fronted band) was never just focused on abortion. Did men suddenly stop raping, harrassing, and objectifying musicians?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Transphobia, Cursing, Abortion, and Rape

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Deadnaming, Murder, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Pregnancy

Minor: Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, and Toxic friendship

alsoapples's review

adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Hate crime, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Blood, Misogyny, Death, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Abortion

katyyyowens's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Incest, and Domestic abuse

thesawyerbean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This was a very enjoyable read. The research done for this novel was insane: the character, setting and plot writing were incredible. I loved the alternating points of view and the interweaving timelines, and the stakes were real, tangible and exhilarating. The effortless inclusion of diverse ethnicities and queer identities was fantastic to read too.

However, where this book falls short is I’m not sure the vision of the fundamental aspect, the time travel and its mechanics, were as defined and clear as they should have been. I did have to suspend belief and go along with it at certain points because it did seem like they flouted their own predefined rules in order for the plot to continue. By the end, although it was satisfying and a satisfactory end, there were still so many questions left unanswered - the characters and I were both left asking ‘who knows?’. In certain ways it made it more convoluted than it already was trying to justify some of the plot points.

Overall this book was good and definitely worth a read. A powerful feminist sci-fi novel, full of historical context and loveable characters, with an overarching plot-line we can all feel impassioned about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Vomit, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Death of parent, and Drug use

hannahbailey's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Fans of This is how you lose the time war would enjoy this one!

It was an interesting concept but sometimes the pace was slow. I felt like it was building up to a big moment that never happened. It had a good plot twist, however I felt more connected to Beth than Tess -- there should've been more from her emotionally. 

An opportunity was missed to flesh out the characters/plot/world-building which was a shame. I feel like we could've learned more from the future, although the fact that we didn't could be the author's very warning against time travel and meddling with time. 

TW: murder, sexual violence, child abuse (incest), abortion, transphobia, suicide

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Suicide, Murder, and Transphobia

aardwyrm's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Oof. So it's nothing against the book, but it's a weird time to read this one (July of 22).

The bit where they discuss shock at the idea of abortions being illegal in 2022 is a doozy.

It's not a flaw of the text, but of the moment, which is sort of the point of the text, so bravo, really. 

The book does a good job of juggling time travel and changing realities, slipping in needful details and surprises. Plot is really its strongest point. There's some occasional clunky dialogue; character speak out loud the same way they internally monologue, and infodump their emotions once in a while. But the worst this'll do is throw you out of the text a minute. It's an intensely, deliberately political book, which may not be everyone's choice, but it's an effective, well balanced time thriller, too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Child death, Classism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Rape, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Abortion, Torture, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Incest, Hate crime, Homophobia, Grief, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Death, Vomit, Violence, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, and Blood

skl_hcn's review

adventurous dark inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Alcohol, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Rape

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Racial slurs, Vomit, and Suicide

afestivalaparade's review

dark emotional hopeful informative tense fast-paced

Whoaaaa, what a wild ride. I was not expecting such a raucous and wild feminist time traveling adventure, but wow am I glad I picked this book up. The setting is unique for time travel, and I loved the deep dive into Gilded Age America. I absolutely loved the deep philosophical dives into historical agency; they are conversations one doesn't normally find in time travel books and I am much more interested in liberal arts than the science of science fiction. (It's great to see studying history get its due.) I wish I had gotten to see more of the best friend's outcome; that thread dropped a bit in the fuzziness that endings to time travel stories usually require. 

I especially loved punk rock 1890s Chicago. The Gilded Age is a fascinating transitional time for the US, and one of my favorite eras. It's so thrilling to see Newitz is fascinated by the same themes I am: a country on the cusp of modernism, struggling mightily to define itself in a way that is completely orthogonal to its actual lived reality. Watching a country try to reinvent its past is timely story, one that becomes literal in this story. Comstock is absolutely a villain, and absolutely as over the top as he's portrayed in the book. 

The book goes to great lengths to highlight diversity, in the 1890s, 1990s, and 2020s. There are a few places that call out the need for intersectionality... Which makes the ending of the book a bit politically disappointing.

The saving of our real-life present feels so triumphant that it's easy to forget the threat to reproductive rights is still very real today, and even more so in countries outside the US. Some characters gesture at how the edit war is neverending, but Tess's story ends with the success of creating our current world -- and so it feels conclusive to the reader as well. I wish the effects of time edits rippled outside of the US, or more space was made for the other Harriet scientists to plan their next steps after celebrating their success. Instead, I was left with an odd feeling of "they did it! Hooray! They saved the day and made the world better! ...wait this world sucks too."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, Suicide, Misogyny, and Incest

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Drug use, and Antisemitism

adbutschli88's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Vomit, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Incest, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Deadnaming, Child abuse, and Abortion